Mike Loftus: Bruins shouldn't get ahead of themselves

There's not even the slightest temptation to get too excited by this. Too much evidence exists -- much of it very recent -- to ignore the possibility that things can go the other way, and quickly.

Mike Loftus

There's not even the slightest temptation to get too excited by this. Too much evidence exists - much of it very recent - to ignore the possibility that things can go the other way, and quickly.

"Montreal, after our game (last Saturday's 7-4 victory over the Bruins), thought they were galvanized, and they lost their next game," Boston coach Claude Julien said Friday afternoon at TD Banknorth Garden. "(Toronto) beat Ottawa 3-0, and they thought that was a turning point."

The Leafs seemed to be right, too, until the B's - the loss at Montreal still fresh - rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to win, 4-2, at Toronto.

The Bruins won again Friday, 2-1 over the New York Islanders, for their fourth victory in the last five games. It's a good way to go into a string of six consecutive road dates (starting with Saturday night's rematch with the Isles), but Julien doesn't want his team to get the idea that it's unstoppable.

"I'm going to be very cautious," he said.

The coach and players, however, are deserving of some thoughtful consideration, as well as some credit for making things work under adverse conditions. The 11-7-2 Bruins, minus center Patrice Bergeron and Top 4 defenseman Andrew Ference, keep finding ways to win their share – perhaps more often than expected.

On Friday, Boston's special teams scored a resounding and long-awaited victory, breaking a scoreless tie on Glen Murray's power-play goal, then suffocating the visitors' power play during two enormously critical junctures.

The Islanders had a 5-on-3 manpower advantage for the first 1:47 of the third period, but the Bruins (mainly defensemen Zdeno Chara and Aaron Ward, plus forwards P-J Axelsson and then Marco Sturm) didn't allow a single shot to get through to Tim Thomas. And with Chara serving a penalty for nearly all of the game's final two minutes, Boston tightened the screws again. (New York seemed to tighten up, too: The Isles sent the puck out of Boston territory on three different occasions, and didn't get goalie Rick DiPietro out of the net to make it a 6-on-4 advantage until about 25 seconds remained on Chara's tripping infraction.)

"Phenomenal job," said Thomas, who made 25 saves after a rare week of rest. "We pressured when we could, didn't pressure when we couldn't, and came up with some huge plays."

"The guys did a great job," said Chara, once safely off the hook. "They were blocking shots, and Timmy made some saves. We were good on those last two or three faceoffs, too."

Like every coach, Julien spends a good bit of time trying to fix problem areas (witness the recent improvement for both special teams). But he also hasn't been shy about making changes that could impact players who wouldn't seem to need any help.

Marco Sturm and Chuck Kobasew, for instance, were both continuing excellent seasons with Phil Kessel as their center, but Julien made a switch after last Saturday's loss at Montreal. (Kessel was minus-2, Kobasew minus-3.) Glen Metropolit has spent the last two wins between Sturm and Kobasew; Kessel has had Peter Schaefer and Brandon Bochenski on his wings.

Metropolit scored Friday's winner with help from former linemate Peter Schaefer (the B's were changing on the fly), beating DiPietro with a slapper to the short side that stretched Boston's lead to 2-0 with 7:19 to play.

"I kind of fooled myself more than I fooled him, I think," Metropolit said. "It just happened to work."

The same could be said about the Bruins. One might not have expected Metropolit and Kessel to trade places, or for rookie Tuukka Rask to start (and win) Tuesday's key game at Toronto, or for Kobasew to take an important defensive zone faceoff late in Friday's third period, after Mike Sillinger closed the gap to 2-1.

Lately, more has been working than not. But that doesn't mean the B's should think they're rolling, or hot, or have momentum.

"We've won two games in a row, but it's going to be a tough game (Saturday) in their building," Julien said. "There's always a team wanting to bounce back."

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